There has been a substantial effort to decrease the operation temperatures of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) to intermediate temperatures (600-800° C.). However, lower temperatures are accompanied by slower kinetics leading to increased polarization losses, and lowering of the power density of the cells. Research has focused on the cathode and electrolyte, while in most cases, the anode has remained as a Ni/YSZ cermet, highlighting the effectiveness of Ni as a catalyst for the oxidation reaction occurring at the TPBs of the anode. However, in most of the single-cell studies reported, highly fuel rich conditions (typically H2-3% H2O) have been used, corresponding to very low fuel utilization rates. However in a fuel cell stack, the fuel utilization in a stack can easily reach over 85%, at which point the fuel is in a highly oxidized state with over 85% H2O. The anodic polarization increases substantially when the utilization rate increases (i.e., the H2O content in the fuel increases). For economic reasons, fuel cells have to be run under high fuel-utilization conditions such that a substantial part of the fuel is used up and not expelled with the anode exhaust.
It is very difficult to infiltrate porous electrode substrates with nanocatalyst particles. Conventional methods are generally based on liquid phase infiltration. These liquid phase infiltration methods are time consuming, requiring multiple infiltration steps followed by drying and heating steps. Even after this time-consuming process, the particle loading that may be achieved using liquid infiltration is significantly less than what is desired.